By stlake
In the US, I love to keep up with the news especially politics. I am studying politics at GW but it also has been a passion of mine for a long time. But the United States has this little problem with being selfish and thinking it’s the center of the universe. Our news is just a product of that. The local news is mostly stories of robbery, fires and rapes; in short, straight up depressing. The “world news” is sound bites of the biggest international stories, and updates about what is happening in Washington. And let’s not forget the nation’s obsession and personally, my biggest guilty pleasure; celebrity news. I cannot lie to you, if I don’t check Perez Hilton or People.com at least 3 times a day, I get a little restless.
Here are 5 things I have learned though the news here.
1. US pop culture has taken over
For example, this weekend is the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination and the Spanish news is having a special all afternoon. When is the last time, the United State did a full length special celebrating a famous figure from other country? Here, I get US celebrity and political news and it’s surprisingly un-bias. Sure, at times, the US has had a less than stellar reputation abroad, but through my own experience, people here generally love Americans and are super interested in learning more about our culture.
2. Spain’s political problems
Spain is a parliamentary monarchy, meaning that there is a monarchy but also a prime minister, who is the head of government. Since the 1990s, there have been two major political parties. There is the Spanish Social Worker’s Party, which is more to the left of the spectrum (liberal for those who “don’t do politics”) and the People’s party, which is more conservative, and who are currently the heads of state. Just like in the US, there is corruption and those are just trying to do what’s right. Spain also has problems with autonomy, with the region of Catalonia (where Barcelona is) and Basque Country wanting to separate themselves. These problems are so interesting but yet something I have never discussed in any world history or international politics course. Spain’s history is very interesting and I’m so happy I’ve had the opportunity to learn about here.
3. Does local news always have to sad?
Here’s a similarity between the US and España. Since I’ve been here, the major story has been about these parents who are being accused of murdering their little girl who was adopted from China. Such a depressing story and we hear about every little development everyday. Then there are the fires, robberies, murders; the list goes on and on. Not that these stories aren’t important but why do people want to hear these things every single day? Communication/ Psych majors, where you at?
4. The newscasters are beautiful.
This is just proving my “Spanish women are perfectly beautiful” theory even more. Like perfect, youthful, never a hair out of place, the cutest clothes, not to mention their bodies, despite eating bread and drinking at every meal. Sure, the US newscasters are generally good-looking, but this is just a whole other level. It just straight up aggravating.
5. They know the meaning of international news
They talk about the news in the UK, France, Italy, Russia, the Middle East, China…I could go on and on. Sure the US and Spain get the most attention, but it’s a nice smorgasbord of news.
I’ve decided to do my final Spanish project on the role of American pop culture in Spain using some actual sources and not just the strong opinions and observations of Sahara Lake. Such a huge part of going abroad is learning about another culture and I’m so #blessed to have had the opportunity to do.
As for the following weeks, I have a plethora of papers, presentations and tests, Thanksgiving dinner (If there is not Mac&Cheese or stuffing, I might have spend another night crying with Tay-Tay Swift) and my much-anticipated trip to Morocco.
Until next time loyal followers. Paz, Amor and Beyoncé.